Football purists rejected her for that ball control hinted at with her right foot, a heresy for a natural left-handed like Maradona, but the bronze statue of the Pibe de Oro given to the City of Naples by the artist Domenico Sepe a year after the disappearance of the sample, immediately took on the contours of yellow. Its exhibition in front of the Distinti sector of the then San Paolo stadium lasted the space of a day: exhibited in the morning, inaugurated in the afternoon in the presence of Manfredi and De Laurentiis, it was removed in the evening waiting to have all the necessary permits. Promised they never arrived. And a year and a half after the ceremony of November 25, 2021, after an “articulated investigation”, the response of the Municipality: the bronze statue of the Pibe de Oro has an excessive value and is involved in an investigation, therefore it must be returned to the donor. An unexpected development in which the nearby Municipality of Casalnuovo inserts itself with a twist: “If Naples doesn’t want it, we’ll buy it”.
The resolution of the Municipality of Naples of last February 16 explains that the assumption underlying the acceptance of the gift was the “modest value of the statue approximately quantified at 30 thousand euros”. But it has been ascertained that the donation is not of modest value, since the cost of the materials alone exceeds 30,000 euros and therefore the donation – pursuant to the civil code – is null. Not only. It is precisely the Municipality that specifies today that the basis of the turnaround are not only technical-administrative reasons, but also “the results of some criminal investigations”. This is the investigation relating to the process which at the time – year 2019 – led to the composition of the municipal commission which was supposed to choose the project for the construction of the statue dedicated to Maradona.
The Prosecutor of Naples investigates the presence among the members of the commission of an ultra leader and the alleged pressure to join it. The artist Domenico Sepe is not part of the investigation in any way and in fact explains: “If there are any shortcomings, they certainly do not concern me or my work”. In the resolution with which acceptance of the statue is revoked, the Municipality also explains that the work, due to its value, “may expose the Administration to reduction action and to a food obligation not even quantified”. Not only that: the installation at the Maradona stadium “seems capable of giving back to the donor a significant benefit in terms of prestige and visibility” and this, “may be attractive to other artists and consequently requires respect for the principle of impartiality and recourse to public procedures”, in short, a competition. Words that didn’t please the artist: “I feel offended – he comments – as if I were the last to arrive”.
The twist comes when, from the nearby Municipality of Casalnuovo. Mayor, Massimo Pelliccia“surprised” by the controversy, calls Sepe and proposes the purchase: “Does Naples not want it? We’ll buy it”. Maradona, explains the mayorhad a “particular bond with Casalnuovo. He often came together with the other Napoli footballer, Pietro Puzone, and the ‘story’ tells that one night he started dribbling in the street. He inaugurated various sports clubs and had friends here. In short, we have a bond with Maradona and I would like to be able to buy his statue. We have a park named after Pino Daniele, the first statue of Totò, we also want that of Maradona”.
Source: Ansa
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